The present invention relates to a tablet cutting apparatus and, more particularly, to a tablet cutting apparatus having a function of cutting a tablet into halves for delivering it to a child patient or for the like purpose.
In the case that the patient is a child, if one tablet is prescribed for one dose, the dose is too much for the child. Therefore, it has been customary practice to cut the tablet into halves to prescribe one half of the tablet. In such a case, although it is common to manually divide the tablet into two parts, there has been proposed an arrangement such that one tablet is divided into halves by a tablet splitter (as disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication No. 6-7715, for example).
With manual cutting, however, there are the disadvantages that operating efficiency is very poor, and that it is difficult to split the tablet accurately into halves.
Even when the tablet splitter is used, a tablet having no split line formed on the surface thereof can hardly be split accurately into halves. Furthermore, it is necessary that tablet splitting and subsequent packing must be separately carried out. This involves troublesome work, resulting in poor operating efficiency.
It is an object of the invention to provide a table cutting apparatus which can precisely split a tablet into halves.
In order to establish the above object, a tablet cutting apparatus according to the present invention comprises:
a conveyor means for conveying a tablet in a horizontal transport direction;
a cutter, disposed above the conveyor means, for cutting a notch in the tablet disposed on the conveyor means;
a divider roller, disposed downstream of the cutter and above the conveyor means, for dividing the tablet into two halves along the notch formed by the cutter; and
a collecting means for collecting halves of the tablets that have been divided by the divider roller.
In the tablet cutting apparatus of the above described construction, after notching the tablet by the cutter, the tablet is divided into two by the divider roller, whereby the tablet is precisely split into halves and collected into the collecting means.
Preferably, the tablet cutting apparatus may further comprise a tablet presser unit, located at the cutter, for positioning the tablet at a predetermined position relative to the cutter. In this case, the tablet presser unit has inclined surfaces for contacting the tablet from opposite sides, and the inclined surfaces of the tablet presser unit are movable along a direction that is perpendicular relative to the horizontal transport direction so that, when the inclined surfaces contact the tablet, the tablet is pressed downward. The tablet presser unit may include at least one solenoid having a plunger that is capable of retractably projecting out of one of the inclined surfaces to position the tablet at the predetermined position by moving the plunger relative to the inclined surface. The conveyor means may be a conveyor belt having an upper run. The tablet presser unit comprises a cutter table, positioned below the upper run of the conveyor belt, and a pair of pressing members disposed on opposite sides of the conveyor belt. Each of the pressing members may have a tapered surface for contacting and pressing the tablet against the cutter table. The tapered surfaces of the pressing members may be opposed to each other. The pressing members are movable toward and away from each other, and each of the tapered surfaces is inclined upwardly in a direction toward the opposing tapered surface.
Preferably, the tablet cutting apparatus may further comprise a divider roller, disposed downstream of the cutter and below the conveyor means, for supporting the tablet received from the cutter. The tablet is held between the divider roller and the receiver plate when dividing the tablet. In this case, the divider roller is formed with an escape groove located centrally in the outer periphery of the divider roller so that the escape groove can oppose the notch formed by the cutter.
Preferably, the tablet cutting apparatus may further comprise a cleaning device that includes a hood for covering the cutter and the divider roller. The cleaner device is operable to suck powder generated from the tablet.
Preferably, the tablet cutting apparatus may further comprise a split guide plate for guiding halves of the tablets that have been divided by the divider roller. Each half of a divided tablet is guided to different collecting means by the split guide plate.
Preferably, the tablet cutting apparatus may further comprise a memory for storing a cutting condition according to the kind of tablet; and a controller for reading the cutting condition corresponding to the kind of the tablet to be cut from the memory and controlling operation of the cutter according to the cutting condition.